System And Method For Tracking Consumable Items

Abstract

A distributed system uniquely tracks individual consumable items within a stream of commerce and tracks ingredients used in consumable items. The distributed system further provided tracks the sale of the consumable items to the consumer. A point-of-consumption system (e.g., juicer) is used to allow consumer access to the consumable item and the distributed system controls the point-of-consumption system to control access to the consumable item, including blocking use or providing an alert when a consumable item should not be consumed due to recall, expiry, allergy, or other reason.

1 . A distributed system comprising:
 a generator that is adapted to generate a unique identifier for at least one of a plurality of consumable items;   a database being adapted to map the unique identifier of the at least one of the plurality of consumable items to an identifier of the consumer;   a server system adapted to:
 receive an indication that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed by the consumer; and 
 trigger an action responsive to the indication that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed; 
   a point-of-consumption system coupled to the communication network and database and adapted to deny access to the at least one of the plurality of consumable items responsive to receiving the indication that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed; and   a point-of-sale system adapted to conduct a transaction by a consumer of at least one of a plurality of consumable items.   
     
     
         2 . The distributed system according to  claim 1 , wherein the point-of-consumption system comprises a scanning device adapted to scan the unique identifier associated with the at least one of the plurality of consumable items, and responsive to a lookup operation using the unique identifier, denies access to the at least one of the plurality of consumable items. 
     
     
         3 . The distributed system according to  claim 1 , wherein the database is further configured to map a plurality of ingredients and their respective source information to the unique identifier of the at least one of the plurality of consumable items. 
     
     
         4 . The distributed system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server system is further adapted to send an alert message directly to a computer system of the consumer, the alert message indicating that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed. 
     
     
         5 . The distributed system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server system is further adapted to indicate, to a manufacturer, one or more consumers that purchased a plurality of identified items that should not be consumed. 
     
     
         6 . The distributed system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server system is further configured to receive an indication that one or more ingredients included in the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed. 
     
     
         7 . The distributed system according to  claim 6 , wherein the server system is further adapted to determine a linking between at least one of the plurality of ingredients to an identified consumer of a particular consumable item of the plurality of consumable items that contains the at least one of the plurality of ingredients. 
     
     
         8 . The distributed system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server system is further configured to determine, at a point after manufacture of at least one of the plurality of consumable items, that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed based on a determination that at least one of the one or more ingredients should not be consumed. 
     
     
         9 . The distributed system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server system is further adapted to communicate an identification of that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items to a point-of-consumption system used to consume the at least one of the plurality of consumable items; 
     
     
         10 . The distributed system according to  claim 1 , wherein the point-of-consumption system is adapted to record access to one or more of the plurality of consumable items in a database. 
     
     
         11 . The distributed system according to  claim 1 , wherein the point-of-consumption system includes a juice press system; and
 wherein the one or more consumable items include juice packs adapted to be processed using the juice press system.   
     
     
         12 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 determining a mapping of customer information to a consumable item;   generating a unique identifier for each of a plurality of consumable items;   determining, at a point after manufacture of at least one of the plurality of consumable items, that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed; and   triggering, based on the act of determining that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed, an action in relation to the at least one consumable item by transmitting, to a point-of-consumption system, an indication that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed.   
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , further comprising an act of storing a mapping of information identifying one or more ingredients to the at least one of the plurality of consumable items;
 wherein the information identifying one or more ingredients includes at least one of a group of information comprising:
 source of the ingredient; 
 production date; and 
 production lot information. 
   
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 13 , determining, at a point after manufacture of at least one of the plurality of consumable items, that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed based on a determination that at least one of the one or more ingredients should not be consumed. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 12 , further comprising:
 an act of conducting a purchase transaction of at least one of the plurality of consumable items at a point of sale by a consumer, and associating the unique identifier with an identifier of the consumer in a database;   an act of triggering, based on the act of determining that the at least one of the plurality of consumable items should not be consumed, an action in relation to the at least one consumable item using the consumer identifier stored in the database; and   wherein the act of conducting a purchase transaction of at least one of the plurality of consumable items at a point of sale by a consumer is performed online, and wherein the method further comprises shipping the at least one of the plurality of consumable items to the customer.   
     
     
         16 . A point of consumption device comprising:
 a food processing element;   a reader; and   a controller coupled to the food processing element and the reader, the controller programmed to:
 receive, from the network device, an indication of items that should not be consumed; 
 scan a unique identifier on a product in the food processing element using the reader; 
 when the unique identifier corresponds to the indication of items that should not be consumed, refrain from operating the food processing element to process the product; and 
 when the unique identifier does not correspond to the indication of items that should not be consumed, cause the food processing element to process the product. 
   
     
     
         17 . The point of consumption device of  claim 16 , wherein the food processing element is a press. 
     
     
         18 . The point of consumption device of  claim 13 , wherein the product is a juice pack. 
     
     
         19 . The point of consumption device of  claim 13 , wherein the controller is further programed to:
 receive a list of identifiers prior to placement of the product in the food processing element;   store the list of identifiers; and   compare the unique identifier to the list of identifiers.   
     
     
         20 . The point of consumption device of  claim 13 , wherein the controller is further programed to:
 when the unique identifier corresponds to the indication of items that should not be consumed, transmit a notification to a mobile device of a user.